FIGURATIVE NUCLEUS OF SOCIAL REPRESENTATION: CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION

ABSTRACT: This study aims to discuss the “figurative nucleus”, which is an integral part of the Theory of Social Representations (SRT), based on Social Psychology. Here the focus is on the educational field, from the perspective of a psychosocial look at the educative relationships. The figurative nucleus is presented, in this text, through the classic works of the SRT, mainly by the text: Psychoanalysis, Its Image and Its Public, by Serge Moscovici. Subsequent advances are also considered, taking up the concepts of “central nucleus” and “social image”. The consequence of the presented reflections for the objectification of the social representation study is the necessary and unavoidable complementarity between these notions. As an illustration, two researches in the area of Education are presented, in which the figurative nucleus has been condensed into “metaphors”, which have coordinated the speeches of the groups that took part on these studies. This study proposes that the deepening of the figurative nucleus is a fecund way for the studies in the field of Education, mainly because it allows the relations between thought, social practices and changes.